Western Australia’s jobless rate has fallen to 5.7 per cent in October, while the national figure remains at a six-year low.
Western Australia’s jobless rate has fallen to 5.7 per cent in October, while the national figure remains at a six-year low.
In seasonally adjusted terms, WA’s unemployment rate fell from 6 per cent in September to 5.7 per cent last month, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA chief economist Rick Newnham praised the numbers.
“There are more West Australians employed now than ever, with total employment at 1.35 million people," he said.
“Western Australia’s 5.7 per cent unemployment rate is a year-long low, which is positive news for WA businesses and job seekers.
“This job growth is on the back of full-time employment in WA being at its highest level in three years, with 41,000 jobs being created in the year to October 2018.
“WA does however continue to have the highest youth unemployment rate in the country at 12.7 per cent, which means there are 27,500 young people in WA who want to work but can’t find a job.
“One way the state government can act now to help these job seekers is to review their decision to reduce extended retail trading hours over Christmas by 30 per cent this year, as these additional hours are largely taken up by young people.
“The government also needs to be vigilant on skills shortages that are emerging across a range of industries as the WA economy picks up and employment conditions improve. This means ensuring businesses are supported to upskill and retrain their workforce and extending skilled migration categories.”
Australia’s unemployment rate stayed steady last month at a six-year seasonally adjusted low of 5 per cent, slightly bettering market expectations, with 32,800 more people in a job since September.
Figures showed the seasonally adjusted participation rate increased by 0.1 per cent to 65.6 per cent, also bettering expectations, while the monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 6.1 million hours, or 0.3 per cent, in October.
The last time the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was this low was April 2012, and the last time it was lower was June 2011's 4.9 per cent.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said the figures were good news for consumer-focused businesses, noting that the date along with consumer confidence above its longer-term averages would support household spending.
“The Reserve Bank will be happy to leave rate settings unchanged," he said.
"But the extent of the tightening of the job market makes it hard to believe that the RBA will stay on the interest rate sidelines until 2021 as some analysts currently expect."
The Australian dollar spiked on the release of the data, climbing from US72.33 cents to US72.79 cents at 1158 AEDT.
Since October 2017, full-time employment in Australia has increased by increased by 238,800 persons, while part-time employment increased by 69,400 persons.
The largest total increase in employment for October was in NSW, up 16,300 jobs, with the participation rate jumping 0.32 per cent to 65.2 per cent.
However, the state's total unemployment rate edged 0.1 per cent higher to 4.4 per cent.
SA, meanwhile, featured 7,700 more people in jobs and the highest lift in participation rate, up 0.5 per cent to 62.5 per cent.
Victoria endured a 3,500 decrease in jobs and a 0.2 per cent drop in the participation rate, while Queensland jobs dropped by 3,200.
Tasmania enjoyed the sharpest fall in the unemployment rate, down 0.4 per cent to 5.3 per cent.
Youth unemployment nationally stands at a seasonally adjusted 11.3 per cent, a slight improvement from September.
The unemployment rate among men aged 18 to 25 is 12.5 per cent, and 9.8 per cent among women of the same age bracket.
There was a 0.7 per cent decrease in the rate of young people looking for full-time work in October, down to 12.3 per cent, and a 0.2 per cent increase in young people solely looking for part-time work, up to 10.2 per cent.
